Page 50 of Bad Witch

“Sorry, I have to go,” I said, then grabbed my bag and rushed from the clubhouse.

Chapter

Thirteen

Tempest

* * *

After grabbing my bag, I kissed Glinda’s furry head and told Manfred I’d be back very soon.

Hustling to the shed that bordered the property and butted up against my moat, I slid my door handle into place and pressed my hand to the old wood. The door I left the cottage through was the door I returned by. I used the laundry door on my cottage for normal everyday travel, but when I was doing Matilda business, this was the door I used. The spot my fingers touched was warm and smooth from the many times it had been used before.

“Guide me and keep me safe, so I may help those in need.” Then I stated the location I wanted to go to and opened the door.

When I stepped through, it was into a dark backyard. The door on this side was attached to a small greenhouse. My location wasn’t quite rural, but the neighbors were a good distance away. The house was what Matilda W called a mini mansion. In other words, I was in an affluent suburb of whatever city I’d been called to.

A whimper came from my right. I turned and spotted two small children crouched, hiding among the shrubs in the garden.

“It’s okay, my darlings,” I said. “Everything will be okay now. Is your mom still inside the house?”

They nodded, their eyes wide but not afraid. Matildas put children at ease, it was just part of who we were.

“Stay right here for me. Can you do that?”

“Y-yes,” the male child said, holding his smaller sister close.

“You’re very brave. All will be well very soon.” I strode toward the house, and as I did ,I called the Matildas forward. Their collective magic burst through my veins, pumping through my heart, and filled my lungs. I vibrated from the power, the strength and courage they gave me. The way I summoned them this time had been different than at the cliffs and was why only one voice filled my mind now.

We are here, sister. It was Matilda M, like always she came through the loudest and others let her be the only voice right now so as not to distract me from my task.

A scream came from inside, and I lifted my hand, releasing a burst of power. The door flung open as I approached, and I ran inside. The scent of fear and blood drenched the hall. The vibration of spent magic, hers, of the crushing weight of evil, his, filled the home. Foul dark magic had twisted and contorted into something so very wrong here.

This female had tried to protect herself and her children, and she’d drained every bit of her magic to do it. She’d saved her babies, and now she was fighting for her life.

Another scream came from a room farther down the hall, and a male voice boomed, snarling and spitting rage and hatred. I couldn’t see them yet, but I didn’t need to. Gritting my teeth, I let magic coil my throat. “Zazil!” I cried the arcane word, the most powerful we had, as I closed in. A male shout of alarm came next, followed by one of fury.

I rushed into the room and found the sobbing female bleeding and beaten. A few feet away, a male stood frozen, thanks to my spell, unable to move and so corrupted by the dark magic that his fingernails had blackened, as had his lips and teeth. The male witch he had once been was gone, and what remained was a core of rot, of venom and hatred.

He’d tortured the female he had once loved with the foulest of dark magic, and now it saturated the room.

On the floor, flickering black candles formed a circle. Inside, laid out at perfect intervals, wicker dolls drenched in his wife’s blood were arranged, and there were entrails and organs from an unknown animal strewn about them. I wasn’t sure what this spell was, but he wouldn’t get to finish it. Taking an enchanted blade from my bag, I blew out one of the candles, tipped it onto its side, and stabbed the dense wax, killing the spell. The other candles went out immediately, and the heavy darkness lessened.

He hissed at me in outrage, and I coiled my magic tighter around him, binding him more securely. He licked his lips. “I’m going to eat you, piece by piece, while you still breathe. I’ll make you scream,” he said to me, then his eyes rolled back, the whites as black as his teeth. “Let the darkness rise.” It was the beginnings of a hideous spell. “Let it cut you dow⁠—”

I slashed my hand through the air with a cry of rage, and his mouth slammed shut, his teeth clinking loudly together. Voices whispered through my mind, the Matildas bolstering my power.

Taking enchanted thread and needle from my bag, I swirled my finger around it, bringing it to life, then pointed at my target. “No more of that kind of talk from you,” I said as the needle and thread shot through the air, the steel sliding through his lips with ease, like molten steel through wax.

His eyes were wide as he screamed behind clenched teeth, as I quickly worked. I slashed a vertical zigzagging motion in the air with my index finger, muttering my spell as I did. The needle and thread followed my direction, working their way along his mouth, sewing it shut.

When I was done, I opened my bag and the needle returned to me, falling inside and sliding back into its rightful place. Turning my back on him, I crouched beside the female who had texted me for help. She was staring at the male, her eyes wide with terror. “I am Matilda,” I said. “You are safe now.”

She tore her gaze from him. “My children⁠—”

“They’re safe as well. Waiting for you in the garden. What is your name?” I laid my hand on her bruised cheek, sending my powers into her, quickly healing the worst of the damage to her face.

“Wendy,” she choked out.