Page 26 of A Resistance of Witches

“It’s called a glamour. Normally it’s used for changing one’s appearance, but a very skilled Glamourer can use it to disappear entirely.”

“And you’re a very skilled Glamourer?”

Lydia shook her head. She smiled, but there was something broken behind it. “No. My friend Kitty. She was the best Glamourer I ever knew. She taught me that trick, but I’m not very good. I can only hold it for a few seconds.”

“That’s why the milice let us go? They opened the boot, and you…what, you became invisible?” Rebecca looked at Lydia. There was dirt on her blouse and on her face, and her hair was coming undone. “You’re trying to tell me you’re what…a sorcière? A witch?”

Lydia grimaced. “I’d rather not have told you at all.”

Rebecca was sure she was going mad. She felt idiotic, but she could not deny what she’d seen. What she’dfelt.She shuddered, remembering the total loss of control.

“What’s in Dordogne?”

“You won’t believe me.”

She removed her hands from the wheel. “You’re not going anywhere in my car until you tell me.”

Lydia made her wait. Then she sighed. “A book of spells. The Nazis want it. I need to find it first. If I can get to the last place it was kept, I’ll be able to use the magic left behind to track it down.”

“And the book was being kept at this château? Château de Laurier?”

“Yes.”

Rebecca was quiet for a moment. “Why do the Nazis want it?”

“It’s hard to say. What it does exactly is a bit of a mystery. What I do know is that the book contains ancient magic,wartimemagic…and that wherever it goes, death and ruin inevitably follow. If the Nazis find it, they’ll be in possession of a well of unimaginable arcane power—”

“You’re telling me they don’t intend to lock this book away behind glass somewhere. You’re telling me they’re planning to use it.”

Lydia nodded. “They would need a coven to wield it. Magic that powerful would burn through a lone witch like kindling. I’ve met one of their witches already, I’m afraid, and I believe there must be more….” She swallowed. Rebecca thought she looked pale. “I believe they have something planned for the winter solstice. That’s in six weeks.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“Your friend,” Rebecca said slowly. “The one who taught you to disappear. You talked about her in the past tense. She’s dead, isn’t she?”

Something complicated happened behind Lydia’s eyes. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry. Who did it?”

“I don’t know her name. She broke into the academy, slipped past our warding, and murdered the grand mistress, and Kitty. She carried a knife with a rune on the handle.Othala.It means ‘homeland.’ ” A pause. “I’m going to kill her.” She sounded like she had just realized it herself, and it surprised her.

“Good.” This, at least, Rebecca could understand.

Lydia looked at her. “Are you all right? I imagine this must all be quite a shock.”

Rebecca wasn’t sure whatall righteven meant anymore. All she knew was that more than anything, she wanted this Englishwoman out of her car. She wanted to drive off, leave her standing on the side of the road with the weeds and the cows. But she remembered what David had said: the order to get Lydia into France had come from Churchill himself. For whatever reason, Churchill believed the English witch was essential to defeating the Nazis.

And that was all that mattered.

“We should get you to Dordogne.”

They drove in silence, hilly farmland rolling by their windows. Afterseveral long, quiet moments, Rebecca heard Lydia murmur something softly to herself.

“What was that?”

Lydia looked at her. “You said you’d been at this forthree years?” Her eyes were probing. Trying to guess her age, Rebecca was fairly certain. “How on earth did you get involved in all this?”

She almost didn’t answer. She’d learned to be suspicious of strangers, of people who asked questions, of everyone, really. But the drive was long, and Lydia’s secrets were somehow even stranger and more dangerous than her own.

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