Page 132 of An Oath at Midnight

I was naked, lying on the ground under the cemetery’s ancient oak tree. A wooden bowl containing a little of my blood sat beside me.

The bowl had always fascinated me. It was stained with the blood of our coven from centuries past, from spells and incantations that witches in our family had performed, like the one we were doing now. One of our ancestors made it long ago from a branch that fell from the oak after it was struck by lightning, and it was incredibly powerful.

My sisters and Jazzy stood around me, and one by one they called for the tree and our ancestors to cleanse me of Cora’s darkness, to shatter her hex, and each time they called, they dipped a finger in my blood and traced one of my scars.

My entire body felt alive, buzzing. My scars were warm but not burning—instead of stabbing pain, they tingled.

They all called to the tree again as Willow painted the last scar with blood, then she straightened and sliced an X into her palm and began the chant.

Iris joined in, slicing the same mark into her own palm. Rose next, then Jazzy followed, all cutting the same X into their palms before they clasped hands surrounding me.

Their feet bare, toes pushed into the dirt and heads dipped, they repeated the spell one step behind the other, creating an unbreakable wall of words, of sound and magic that echoed around us.

The chanting grew in volume and speed. Magic snapped through the air, lifting the hair on my arms and the back of my neck. They were crying out now, shaking from the force of the magic they were using, giving everything they had to break the hex.

Cora’s darkness gathered inside me, steadily building in intensity. The hex was like a serpent in my gut, twisting and writhing, fighting against the magic, fighting to stay where it was. I gritted my teeth, biting back my scream.

They dropped to their knees and placed their hands on my stomach and cried out the final words of the spell. My spine bowed as Cora’s darkness, her hex, was dragged from my belly, pulled down through my back and forced into the ground beneath me.

I cried out as it left my body, as her evil was drawn away by the roots of the mighty oak and pushed down into the earth where it couldn’t do anymore harm.

I collapsed back, shaking from relief and exhaustion.

It was gone and the change was instant.

It’d been so long since I felt like this, it took me a moment to recognize it—to recognize myself. All this time we hadn’t known why I’d changed so much, not entirely. Clayton and what he did to me was a big part of it, but Cora’s evil had made it so much harder. She’d been locked away, but her hex had been slowly poisoning me. Now it was gone. It was finally gone.

Willow grinned down at me. “How do you feel?”

I climbed to my feet. “Like me.”

Rose, Iris, and Jazzy grinned as well.

“I think we should tell Mom about this later, yeah? She’s already freaking out,” Iris said.

“Agreed,” Rose said, throwing her arm around Willow’s shoulders. “We better get back. She’ll be wondering where we are.”

Everyone got dressed, and I tugged back on the plain cotton Umbra gown, and headed across the cemetery toward the gates.

“We’ll pass on your apologies, then, Mags?” Willow called after me, her chuckle reaching me as I broke into a run.

I wouldn’t go another night without him.

Not one more.

* * *

Bram

I paced from one end of the tree house and back, wearing out a fucking track. I’d been waiting for Magnolia for over two hours. I got her and her sisters had a lot to talk about, but I was climbing the fucking walls.

Shoving the door open, I walked out onto the deck again, searching the backyard.

If the witches council made a move tonight, I needed to be with her so I could stop them, even if that meant killing every single fucking one of them.

The moon was high, lighting up some areas of the yard and casting others in deep shadow. The sensor light at the side of the house flicked on, and a moment later Mags rounded the corner.

My heart smashed against the back of my ribs at the sight of her, like I’d been plugged into an electrical socket. The white cotton gown she wore clung to her as she ran, her black, wavy hair streaming out behind her.