Page 56 of This Witch Is Not Wicked

But no matter how much I repeated the words, my brain screamed at me to run. To get as far away from here as I could.

Murmurs spread through the crowd, everyone’s stares weighing me down.

“Enid, let’s go,” Nevan whispered.

I was embarrassing him. Oh, godwitches. I needed to leave, but my body wouldn’t move.

Then someone screamed, and my gaze snapped up just in time to see Vine slithering around the statue of my mother.

Oh no. I knew exactly what Vine was about to do. It had been my fiercest protector since the day I’d created it.

I opened my mouth to tell Vine to stop, but I couldn’t speak, my throat still so impossibly tight.

Instead I watched in horror as its powerful body snapped the earth godwitch’s neck right from their head.

Screams erupted, townspeople shouting in confusion and horror.

A woman dropped to her knees, wailing, “It’s desecrating the earth godwitch.”

“Our gardens will be cursed!”

“It’s all her fault,” someone yelled and pointed at me, fury in their eyes.

Nevan had frozen, watching Vine in complete horror.

I shook my head at my companion, but it wasn’t paying any attention to me.

It wrapped its thick body around the statue, squeezing tighter, tighter, tighter until the entire thing exploded, chunks of stone flying in all directions. One piece went through the window of a business. Glass shattered and townspeople ducked for cover, others running to escape the carnage.

“She ruined our festival,” a man shouted.

“Enid,” Nevan said, and I couldn’t bear to see the look on his face, the disappointment, the disgust.

My body finally snapped back to reality, and I wrenched my arms from his grasp, turning and running away.

CHAPTER 23

Nevan

Enid shoved through the crowd, running between two buildings and diving straight into the water. Fuck.

The music had stopped, the parade over as townspeople began to pick up the chunks of stone that now littered the street.

The earth godwitch’s hand had landed at my feet, and I thought back to Enid’s reaction to seeing the statue, the horror in her eyes. Something about it had upset her.

I’d sensed the change as the statue had appeared. Her body had tensed, her skin turning a pale green, and her hand shook in mine. But I couldn’t figure out why she’d have that kind of reaction to a statue. Why she’d have that kind of reaction to the earth godwitch, who was generally one of the most popular godwitches.

In the distance, townspeople were gripping Vine’s long body as it fought against them. Its tail whipped the cobbler in the chest, and he flew backward, making people erupt in screams.

This was getting out of hand. I ran toward them, waving my hands. “Stop! Stop it!”

Everyone continued yelling and pulling Vine, and in turn, the plant was growing more frantic.

“Everybody fucking shut up!” I screamed.

They all froze, eyes turning to me.

I reached out a hand. “Don’t hurt it.”