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“You need to leave!” Inara hissed.
Footsteps sounded down the stairs. What the hell was going on?
“You have the book you wanted. Go now!”
Malcolm glanced between her, Sofia, and the door.
“What the hell, Malcolm!” Sofia said. “She’s not enchanted.”
“I helped you for my own reasons, now go!” Inara whispered. The enchantment had clearly never worked, but Inara had helped them anyway. Or had it been help?
The footsteps sounded closer. Malcolm grabbed Sofia’s hand. Kitty pressed up against his leg. It was safer to get out of here than stay and fight a dozen witches on their home turf. He closed his eyes, envisioned his home, and began to aetherwalk.
He hit a wall. The aether was blocked. His eyes flared open.
“A trap?” he asked.
Inara shook her head. “The others have blocked the aether, I think. You can no longer aether—”
The door melted away and witches surged into the room. Malcolm tore off his cuff and threw a blast of flame at the door. The witches stumbled back. Several stayed down, but the rest surged forward.
Sofia threw her cuff to the ground and flung out her wand, throwing bolts of lightning at the two witches in the front. Their bodies lit with an unholy glow and they shrieked. Sofia kept the current strong until they collapsed, then transferred her lightning to the next two.
Malcolm continued to throw fireballs, but more witches surged into the room. Too many. They raised their wands in unison and screamed, “Inable!”
A powerful force froze him like ice, his arm still flung out. From the corner of his vision, he could see Sofia and Kitty in the same state.
The witches who had fallen to the ground slowly found their feet. Their faces gleamed with anger. The group, eleven in all, faced them. The coven’s clothes were singed and their eyes were bright with rage.
Malcolm fought his magical binding but couldn’t budge.
They were screwed.
“Inara! What is this?” The strongest witch demanded. Her power radiated out from her, making Malcolm’s skin prickle. She was dressed entirely in black, a gloomy figure with pale skin and midnight hair.
“What?” Inara stumbled back, shaking her head. Confusion flashed across her features.
An act. It was clear now.
“I felt the disturbance in this room. Why are you here? With outsiders?”
“I have no idea,” Inara said. “They must have enchanted me.”
“Ridiculous. You can’t be enchanted.” The witch in black pointed her wand at Inara. Chains extended from the wand and wrapped around Inara, binding her until she fell onto her side.
The dark witch turned to Malcolm. “You’re strong. I don’t know what you are, but you must be strong if you thought you could get in and out of here alive. Either that or stupid.”
Malcolm opened his mouth to respond, but he couldn’t. Even his mouth was frozen.
“No need to talk,” the witch said. “You’ll just lie. Or try to enchant me. We can get what we want from your minds easily enough.” She glanced behind her at the ten witches who stood at her back. They stared at him, all with dark eyes and tilted heads. It was eerie as hell. “A mind sweeper spell, I think.”
The witches all raised their wands toward them. His head suddenly began to ache, pain growing until he thought he would collapse. Only their spell held him upright. He fought to protect his thoughts, but it was powerful magic. He put all his energy toward blocking the thought of retrieving the Grimoire, hoping that Sofia was doing the same. If they were going to make it out of here, they wanted to do it with the Grimoire.
The witches’ brows all rose in unison. Inara gasped from where she lay on her side. She was part of this spell? Or did she hear his thoughts because she was part of the coven?
“My, my. Thatisinteresting,” the dark witch said. “What a fascinating history. And you thought to steal our Grimoire? For the High Witches? But did you succeed? I can’t see that in your memory.” Her gaze ran over his form and then over Sofia’s. “The book is large. It couldn’t be concealed in your jacket. If you have it, I don’t know what you’ve done with it. But we shall find it.”
She tapped her wand on her hand and stared at them. “Our High Priestess, Malifey, is out for All Hallows’ Eve. When she returns, we’ll revisit the question. For now, you’ll go to the dungeon.”
