Page 27 of Destiny of the Witch

Intellectually I knew he was right, but emotionally I was battered. ‘Can you cover her?’ I asked as my voice broke. ‘I can’t look at her anymore.’ I would, though; I would see her every time I closed my eyes for many months to come.

Bastion picked up the duvet, which was strewn across the floor, and laid it over her. At first glance she could have been asleep, but she wasn’t. She was dead and she would never fulfil the potential that had bubbled out of her.

Then I let go. I fell to my knees and wept.

Chapter 20

With Jeb dead, we didn’t have anyone in the maintenance role. We needed to recruit someone, I thought dully. For now, I called Ethan and Jacob.

Bastion carefully carried Hannah down the steps to the cremator and laid her body on the metal table next to it. When Jeb had died, we had unceremoniously burned his body as quickly as possible in case the evil Coven decided to reanimate his corpse for one last ‘eff you’. Hannah deserved ceremony: last rites and a funeral.

I would send a Coven-wide email later but for now it was time to come clean about a few horrific facts. There were too many secrets, too many lies. How could I govern a Coven whilst I lied to it? How could I hunt the evil within when I trusted no one?

Now that Hannah’s body was taken care of, stored safely, we locked the huge incineration room and headed backto her flat. Ethan had arrived and was standing in Jacob’s arms; both had obviously been crying. ‘What happened?’ he demanded, stepping back, shoulders squared. ‘Hannah?’

‘Hannah knew some important information,’ I explained evenly. ‘She was tortured to reveal it. When she broke, an oath death took her.’

‘We will not let the records hold her an oath breaker,’ Jacob said fiercely.

‘No,’ I agreed. ‘We will not.’ I waited a beat. ‘Now that Jeb is dead, we need someone else to deal with this—’ I cut myself off before I could say ‘mess’. Hannah wasn’t a mess. ‘Deal with this,’ I said instead.

‘I will see to it,’ Jacob promised.

‘Jay… ’ Ethan started.

‘Hush. It is my choice. I will clean up Hannah’s room – she deserves that. I will pack up her belongings. She has a sister, Jennifer, in Liverpool who will want to look through them.’

Jennifer: I hadn’t even thought of Hannah’s sister. When Hannah had joined us, I’d offered a place to her sister too, but she hadn’t taken it. Hannah had been quietly relieved, ready to strike out on her own. But now I would have to tellJennifer about her sister’s death. Sometimes being a leader was the worst.

I nodded my approval of Jacob’s kind offer. ‘Thank you, Jacob. I have looked, but there is no sign of Fifi.’

Jacob swore aloud. ‘To take her familiar... ’ He shook his head as tears welled again. ‘These bastards are monsters. She will have to be burned alone.’

‘I know.’ I sighed. ‘I will do everything I can to find Fifi, then we will scatter her ashes with Hannah’s in our garden. Theywillbe together.’

Jacob set his jaw into a grim line. ‘Yes, so mote it be.’

‘So mote it be,’ I responded fiercely. ‘Ethan, we need a meeting in the Coven common room. Everyone is to attend, regardless of their work commitments. We will tell them about Hannah’s death then go immediately to the incinerator room to say goodbye. Can you arrange food and drinks for a wake afterwards? And the Farewell Elixir?’

Ethan nodded briskly. ‘What time?’

‘Four pm for the meet,’ I suggested.

‘Consider it done.’

I touched his arm lightly. ‘I do.’ I gave him a squeeze and then walked away. That was probably the closest I’d managed to come to saying I trusted him. He and I had never gelled, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have faith in himto do what was right. Then again, I had trusted Jeb and been completely wrong about that. Maybe my judgement wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be.

Bastion and I excused ourselves and went up to my flat. Oscar, Benji and David were sitting inside and I raised an eyebrow in question – they were supposed to be finding Edward.

Oscar grimaced and shook his head. ‘He’s gone. His apartment was cleaned out.’

‘Super clean,’ David added. ‘It smelled funny.’

‘Bleach,’ Oscar explained. ‘He didn’t want to leave a stray hair or drop of blood to be used against him. I checked the security footage in the car park. He left at 3am, a bag over his shoulder.’

I scrubbed at my eyes. ‘So there’s no doubt that he wasn’t coerced.’

‘He certainly strolled out alone,’ Benji confirmed.

---