Page 55 of Rogue Witch

Raith lowers himself into his chair and, to my surprise, looks at the wolf and says, “Don’t tell me you were in the Reaping.”

“He sure was,” I say. “And I’d like to know why you sent him there to watch me.”

Raith leans back in his chair. “If I had the power to send someone into the Reaping, I would be the most powerful being on earth, maybe even the most powerful.”

I study him. “You didn’t send him?”

He shakes his head.

I look at the wolf. “You’d better shift into human form before I sick Stony on you.”

Stony pushes up onto her forelegs. The wolf looks at her, sneezes, then shifts into human form, clothes, and all.

I narrow my eyes. “You can shift with clothes on?”

“When you’ve lived as long as Caleb, you learn a few tricks along the way,” Raith says.

“You’re old like them?” I ask.

“By them, if you mean Raith, Blade, and Ethan, then yes,” he replies in his deep drawl.

Now I understand—partly, at any rate. The very old Margiddians all know each other.

“I—I heard a wolf howl in the War Games,” I say.

His brows lift. “And that means….”

“It’s just too coincidental, don’t you think? You said you’d been in another Reaping.”

He nods. “About a hundred years ago.”

“I’ve never heard of anyone being taken twice.”

“Neither have I,” Raith says.

We both pin Caleb with a stare.

He shrugs. “It’s not as if I had a choice.”

I know he’s right, but I can’t escape the feeling there’s more to the story. More to him.

“Was the Reaping you were in like this one? Are they all the same?” I ask.

“The one I was taken in was essentially the same as the one you and I were in. There were lots of Shadows, people got crazy, and people died.”

“What was the deal with that stadium of people?” I ask.

“Stadium of people?” Raith says.

“There were—what”—I look at Caleb—“thousands of people in the stands?”

He gives a single nod. “Sounds about right.”

“What stands?” Raith asks again.

The memory of fear tightens my stomach. “In the field where Ariel led the two hangings.”

To my surprise, sorrow clouds his eyes. “What happened?”