Wind kicks up and swirls around us, pulling loose strands of hair out of my ponytail. Goose bumps prickle across my arms, and I shiver despite the late June heat. A slight tremor works through the earth, like the gentle ripple of a pond after a pebble’s been tossed in. The amount of magic in the clearing is heady. Intoxicating.
After a moment, Lady Ariana stands, eyes still closed, and presses a hand against the trunk of the tree. I hold my breath, waiting as she reads the energy flowing through each ring of the tall oak.
Mom fidgets beside me. “Was this the work of a Blood Witch?” Her voice trembles, and I wonder if she’s thinking of all those bedtime stories she told me—the ones with Blood Witches so powerful they could control your mind or stop your heartwith a single thought. I wonder if she’s ever faced a Blood Witch before. If she knows how terrifying their strength and speed is. How quickly their wounds heal.
Lady Ariana shakes her head and pats the side of the trunk like it’s a beloved pet. “There’s no indication of magic by the tree. None in the blood.”
“So that’s it? We’re still the only Clan in Salem?” The relief that flows through me nearly brings me to tears. We’re safe. She didn’t follow us home.
Lady Ariana purses her lips. “Did I say I was finished?” With swift, sure steps, she crosses to the remnants of the fiery pentacle. As she kneels, Veronica reaches for me and digs her fingers into my bare skin.
I yank my arm from her grip.What?I mouth the word to avoid disturbing Lady Ariana.
Veronica nods toward the ashy pentacle. Her eyes grow wide as Lady Ariana puts a hand to the earth.
And then I remember.
Veronica used her magic to help put out the fire.
I see the moment Lady Ariana senses magic in the ashes. Her eyes cloud over; a brisk wind blasts into us, knocking me back a step.
And then the earth swallows us whole.
“I’m disappointed in you.” Lady Ariana approaches with slow, deliberate steps. She stares down at us, where we’re buried to our necks in the ground. “Especiallyyou, Veronica. How dare you use your gifts in the presence of non-witches.”
Our parents go pale. My mom’s jaw falls open.
Even with most of Lady Ariana’s wrath focused on Veronica, panic claws at my chest. Every instinct shouts at me to dig myfingers into the ground and pull myself free, but that’s exactly what she wants. So I remain still.
Power crackles around our high priestess, and it’s like every element stretches toward her, eager for her energy. The soft breeze whips into a gale. The trampled grass around her feet stretches back to its full height, growing vibrant and green. I suck in a breath as the earth around my legs tightens, moving up and up until it pushes out my breath.
“I demand an explanation.” Lady Ariana’s voice is quiet, and yet it permeates the air, burrowing in my ears, making her disapproval inescapable. “I found no traces of Blood Magic. So I ask again, child. Why did you use your magic so carelessly?”
Veronica tenses beside me. A strangled cry passes her lips, and she struggles to inhale as the earth tightens around her chest. Her parents share a worried look, but they don’t intervene. No one intervenes when a high priestess is disciplining her coven. “I wouldn’t have done it if there had been another way,” she says between gasps.
“Altruism is no excuse for breaking the Council’s laws.”
“But—”
“The Council leaves no room for exceptions. Our very existence demands absolute secrecy.” Lady Ariana sighs like she’s about to do something she finds distasteful.
“Wait!” I struggle against the earth, but it doesn’t budge. “It’s not her fault. She didn’t have a choice. These guys, they were fighting, and they almost rolled into the flames. No one noticed her. I swear.”
“Were these ‘guys’ Regs?”
The earth tightens around my chest. “Well, yeah.”
A sad smile softens her wrinkled face, and I catch a glimpseof something no one else gets to see in her. The love—and disappointment—of my grandmother. “I expect more from you, Hannah. The last time witches grew careless with their magic, the Regs rose against us. Witch Hunters killed hundreds of witches before we formed the Council and put them down. They killed Casters in this very town. You know this.”
“I know,” I grumble. I’m not the one who needs a history lesson. “We don’t use our magic in public. We don’t risk ourselves for Regs. It’s not our place to save them from themselves,” I say, repeating her weekly reminder at coven meetings.
“You may know, Hannah, but you do not understand.” My grandmother sighs and transforms again into Lady Ariana, high priestess of one of the largest Elemental covens in America. “You will learn. In time.”
I don’t like the sound of that.
“Veronica, our next private lesson will be delayed a month.”
Beside me, Veronica blanches. “A month? But our next lesson isn’t until August. If you add another month, I’ll be away at college!”
