Page 25 of A Resistance of Witches

“No, Rebecca, I swear—”

“Shut up!Are you an informant? Is that why they let you go?”

“No.”

Rebecca looked around. No cars coming in either direction. The Englishwoman knelt in the gravel at her feet. She felt a familiar sensation inside herself—something calcifying around her heart, making her feel hard and numb as she prepared herself to do a terrible thing.

“Tell me something true in the next three seconds, or I will put a bullet in your head.”

“Rebecca—”

“Three.”

“Rebecca, listen to me—”

“Two.”

Lydia disappeared. One second, she was cowering at Rebecca’s feet, and the next, there was nothing but empty road, and blue sky, and golden fields stretching for miles in every direction. Rebecca stumbled back. She could hear gravel moving around her, footsteps that weren’t her own, but she couldn’t see anyone there.

“Merde. Merde, merde, merde.”

Then Lydia was back. Off to her left, facing her, not trying to run. Rebecca turned and aimed her pistol.

“Astyffn ban,” Lydia said.

Rebecca froze. She could still breathe, a small comfort as she listened to the frantic panting of her own breath, but try as she might, she couldn’t move. She focused all her energy on the trigger, but even that tiny movement felt as impossible as flying. A wave of terror washed over her as Lydia approached, slowly and calmly, and took the gun from her hand.

“I’m not your enemy, Rebecca.” Lydia held the gun by her side. She walked to the driver’s side door, opened it, and placed the gun back inside Rebecca’s purse. Then she returned and stood before Rebecca’s frozen body.

“I’m going to release you. And then we can talk.”

Rebecca stared at Lydia, trying to convey something with her eyes—submission. Lydia seemed to understand.

Rebecca fell to the ground, the sudden release leaving her limp, like a marionette with her strings cut. She scrambled backward, gravel scattering around her, as Lydia stood placid and motionless.

“What the fuck was that?”

Lydia looked around. Off in the distance, a car was approaching.

“We should get off the road,” she said.

•••

Rebecca guided the caronto a little-used dirt path, then turned off the engine and stared straight ahead. Lydia sat beside her, murmuring strange words under her breath, running her fingertips across her injured palms. Rebecca looked down and saw the wounds close under her touch.

She had always loathed scary stories. Ghosts, witches, even fairy tales meant for children. Anything that gave off even a whiff of the supernatural had always filled her with a visceral dread. Rebecca preferred her world to be orderly. She glanced down at Lydia’s now unblemished hands, then quickly looked away.

Lydia was quiet, waiting for her to speak.

“What did you do to me?” Rebecca rasped.

“It’s a simple defensive spell. A temporary paralytic. I’ve had it done to me in class, I know it’s not pleasant. I’m sorry I had to do that.”

Rebecca swallowed. “You disappeared.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

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