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I released the magic, and the sound of shattering glass filled the room. We were blasted backward. The ward turned solid as it broke, sending shards of glass raining down on us. I threw my hands up, but it was too late. The glass sliced into my face, and my friends cried out as the remnants of the ward cut into their skin.
I landed hard on my back and gasped as I tried to get to my feet. I could hardly find my fingers, let alone my legs. I lifted my gaze to the shadowy figures to see they had grown bigger than before. The temperature in the room had dropped even more as they continued to descend upon us. I glanced around at my friends to see them lying on the floor, blood dripping down their faces. The spell hadn’t hurt the ghostly figures, but it had harmed my friends.
The shadows were back on us in a mere moment. I seemed to freeze beneath their touch as the shadows surrounded me. They felt even stronger than before.
I realized then that the shadows only fed on the dark energy of the ward. Trying to harm them with the priestesses’ magic had only made them stronger. There was only one way to cast out the darkness—and that was to outshine it.
Protection magic swirled out of me, appearing as a glowing orb that lit the entire room. The orb expanded, splitting into five beams of light that I aimed at the shadowed figures. The spirit’s hold on me tightened. I clawed at my neck, but my fingers met nothing but air. I gripped the shadowy magic with my Curse Breaker powers, but it quickly slipped from my grasp.
I couldn’t do this alone.
My fingers trembled as I reached out for Lucas on one side of me and Chloe on the other. They saw what I was doing and desperately reached back, until the five of us were holding hands.
Protection magic poured into me, causing my whole body to glow like the light of the sun. The screeching of the ghosts intensified, until the magic came bursting out of me. Like a shield exploding, our magic swept across the room, blasting the spirits back. Pained screams filled the air… then faded.
I slumped to my hands and knees, gulping in greedy breaths. My friends were on their knees panting, but they were still here, thank the Goddess.
Lucas crawled over to me and placed a hand on my back. “We did it,” he rasped.
Isa ran over, rubbing her head on my chin. At first, I thought she was trying to comfort me, until she pushed again, then let out a low growl.
“We have to get moving,” I said. “I broke the priestesses’ ward, which means they know we’re here. They could be here at any moment.”
Grant and Talia scrambled to their feet and hurried over to the desk at the center of the room. Grant picked up the cauldron and lifted it above the displays that held the Seer and Alchemy Wands. Something made him pause.
“Uh… anyone else recognize this?” Grant asked.
We’d been in such a hurry, I hadn’t had a chance to look at it closely. Now that I did, I realized the handles were twisted into the shape of branches.
“It’s the Crock of Death,” I realized.
“We should take that with us, too,” Lucas suggested.
Grant nodded, then brought the cauldron down to smash the Wand displays open. He quickly subconjured the crock, then reached through the broken glass. Talia took the Seer Wand, while Grant snatched up the Alchemy Wand. The wands glowed at the ends, and magic swirled up their arms. Matching tunes filled the room.
“They’re the real thing,” Grant said. “I can feel it.”
Relief flooded through me. We had worked so hard for those Wands, only for the priestesses to manipulate them out of our grasp. Now that we had them again, they couldn’t use them to hurt our people.
We quickly turned to leave, but Chloe stopped us.
“Hang on. There might be other things here we can use against the priestesses.” Chloe lifted a scroll she found lying on a table. “Look at these. They’re some sort of decree records… They’re making new laws. The following laws are set forth by the Imperium Council, led by revelation from Mother Miriam. It is imperative the coven follow her guidance to protect the town from outside threats.”
“They’re liars,” I growled. “I doubt they’ve talked to her, because I have, and this isn’t what she’d want.”
Chloe curled up her nose. “These scrolls talk as if the coven can’t be trusted to know what’s best for themselves. Compliance is the only way to fulfill Mother Miriam’s will. This document details the next stages of their plan. They’re going to implement a law that says if you’re not teaching your children the ways of the Chosen, you will be charged with religious abuse. People who haven’t joined the Chosen will have their children removed from their home, so that the priestesses can raise the kids under their own religious doctrine.”
“That’s sick!” Lucas raged. “They can’t take innocent children from good homes.”
“What is this?” Grant sneered. “Some sort of genocide?”
I shook my head. “During genocides, the leaders mark the oppressed, like they did in the Hawkei Civil War. The priestesses are marking themselves and their followers, because we’re fighting a different force here. The marking of the Chosen is a ritual initiation, which means all those people willing to go through with it will agree with and support the priestesses. They aren’t going to bother questioning the priestesses removing children from good homes, because they’re so far into the ideology that they’ll be the ones to do it for them. They’ll turn in their neighbors, not because they’re afraid of what will happen if they don’t, but because they actually believe they’re doing the right thing.”
“This is wrong and evil,” Lucas snarled.
“That’s not the worst of it…” Talia’s features turned paper white as she picked up another stack of papers. “It’s drawings of the Mentalist Wand… and pictures of the Abyss.”
Talia turned the drawings toward us, and my stomach plummeted to my toes. The sketches showed the Mentalist Wand, the twisted tree symbol carved onto the handle. It appeared to be falling into a glowing red pit, with shadowed creatures lurking in the background.
