Page 16 of Witch Undecided
I set off down the dirt track toward the mansion, aware of his gaze on my back, warm and inviting and hungry.
Yeah, alone time was a must.
Anna wasn’tin her office and Wren was no longer in the infirmary. Neither was Pippa. In fact, I couldn’t find anyone I wanted to speak to. I was tempted to call on Jasper but decided against it.
The last thing I needed was his electric presence driving my already dizzy hormones wild, and I wasn’t ready to lie to him again, to tell him I didn’t want or need him.
I popped my head into the dining hall on the off chance I’d spot a friendly face. It was the lull between lunch and supper, and the place was practically deserted aside for one table where the pouty redhead I’d seen on my first day here and her dark-haired friend sat eating fries.
They stopped talking as soon as they saw me and stared at me with deer-in-headlight looks.
“Hey.” I approached. “Any idea where everyone is?” I looked about. “It’s kinda dead around here.”
They exchanged glances, then the redhead spoke. “They’re in the atrium, testing for a new witch to join The Elites and take…take Brie’s spot.” Her eyes welled and she sniffed.
“It’s okay, Justine. You did good.”
“Not good enough,” Justine said. “Brie would be so pissed at me.”
The dark-haired woman looked up at me. “Justine is Brie’s cousin.”
Shit. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
“You tested?”
“Yeah, they took me first—bloodline and all that—but I wasn’t good enough.”
“You did everything,” the dark-haired woman said.
“Not the negation chant, Kel. I couldn’t get the negation chant right.”
More witches filtered into the room, some looking downcast, others relieved. I guess not everyone wanted to be an Elite, in the firing line when it came to revenants.
“They’re replacing her already?” It seemed a little harsh.
Kel gave me a flat look. “The Elites are our first line of defense against the revenants. There needs to be four of them for the spell to be effective, even with the amplification crystal.”
Yes, I’d seen them use a crystal on the four revenants. The elders had stepped in after Brie died, but they’d had to channel power through me to do that, and that wasn’t a viable option for regular patrols.
Shit.
More witches filled the dining room, and the spectral staff set to work offering hot chocolate and brownies—comfort foods for these witches who’d failed the test.
“Shit,” Justine said, her gaze on the door as another group of witches trooped in. “This is bad.”
How many more witches were there to be tested? “What happens if no one can do the spell?”
Both women looked up at me with grim expressions. “Then we’re fucked.”
I passeda small group of witches headed back to the mansion on my way to the atrium. One was sobbing while the others consoled her. They barely looked up at me as they skirted me on the path.
More witches who had failed the test.
The atrium doors were ajar when I got there, and the sound of agitated voices drifted out to greet me.
“That’s the lot of them, then,” Jessie said.
