Page 127 of Ashes and Lilies
Help wasn’t coming. I was going to be eaten.
I hated being right all the time.
The support under my head vanished, and my chin was released as Daniel’s touch moved to the back of my skull.
Despite everything, my hairstyle had remained undisturbed, and when Daniel twisted his fingers into my braid, my hair was pulled painfully in his hold. I twisted, shaking my head as I sought to protect myself.
Suddenly, Daniel’s chanting ended in a curse, and a section of my hair ripped as he snatched his hand back.
He was holding the hairpin that Titus had given me.
“What’s this?” he asked, turning his attention to one of the witches. He tossed the hairpin aside as he lectured, “I told you to burn everything! Your incompetence could have ruined the whole ritual!”
His grip returned a second later, and my view shifted, turning upside down. A stinging pain ran across the skin of my neck, but that no longer mattered.
Because there was only one thing I could focus on.
The bright orange flames within the hearth taunted me. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the spot where Daniel had so nonchalantly thrown Titus’s gift.
My thoughts were heavy with dismay. Thanks to Finn’s actions, I could fight again. I didn’t understand what had happened entirely, and it was strange that this—out of everything—would be my breaking point, but still…
That was my precious gift. It had belonged to Titus’s mother, and now it had been destroyed.
He was going to be so upset.
Anger pushed away my shock, taking control of my thoughts and erasing my pain. How dare they hurt someone that I’d claimed. How dare they ruin my possessions.
Inside, a comforting, old feeling began to well in my chest before flooding through me. I’d felt like this only once before—when I’d come upon Professor Hamway’s house in a dream and helped Rosalie escape.
I welcomed the ancient fury and let it flow through me. My chest heaved, but this time, it was no longer from fear.
The candlelight flickered ominously, and a ripple moved through the air. Exclamations of worry and alarm sounded throughout the room.
I wasn’t scared anymore. And that’s when everything changed.
One instant, I was on the table. The next, I was on the floor.
I blinked up at the bottom of the table as a shout rang through the room. Two witches staggered backward, looking around before one spotted me and pointed in my direction.
My vision flashed, and my body no longer felt like my own. Pain could not touch me nor hinder my movements when I ripped out the gag and rolled onto my hands and knees. The witch who’d pointed at me stepped away and crossed his arms before him—he stared at me with an expression of abject horror.
“I told you it wouldn’t work,” he said, the cloth falling away from his face as he stumbled back. “No one said she could blink!”
Daniel dropped the blood-lined knife, ripped down his cap, and began to fumble around in his clothes. “Stop panicking and catch her!”
My movements were effortlessly smooth as my mind drifted between awareness and dreams, and nothing fully registered. My perception of the room was changing constantly. One moment, I stood in one corner, and the next second, I was in the other.
The colors faded into monochrome. There were only two things I knew for certain: I was trapped with people who wanted to kill me, and I had no choice but to defend myself.
Distantly, I was aware of consciousness begging me to stop, but nothing registered. The floor at my feet exploded into sound, and once more, the scene had changed. Someone was shooting at me, but they’d never succeed.
I paused, concentrating, but nothing happened. My hand twitched as my fingers grasped the open air.
So, I wasn’t strong enough to access my arsenal yet.
Then, I needed to find another way.
I looked through the room, searching until I spotted the ceremonial knife that had recently been used against me.
