Page 18 of Sophie's Ruin
My fingers dug into the wood as I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Find my center…I hesitated.What if I hear Henry again?
Under any other circumstances, I would give anything to hear his voice, but he was suffering, and I…I didn’t think I hadit in me to hear the sound of his anguish and not break down. Especially because there was nothing I could do to help him at the moment.
With a shuddering breath, I opened my eyes and looked at Celeste. Her lips were pressed in a thin line as if she knew what I was thinking.
“Come with me,” she said, reaching for the colorful woven shawl hanging on the back of her chair. She draped it over her shoulders and came around the table.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I want to show you something.” Celeste extended her hands toward me as if expecting me to take them. “We will move through space using my magic like we did yesterday.”
I nodded, placing my hands in hers. I hoped the journey this time would be less unpleasant than the last.
Celeste’s magic poured out of her, and my skin prickled a moment before the world went black like it had when she’d whisked me away from the mansion. This time, I paid attention to the sensation, aware of the pull of magic on my limbs. It felt like being sucked into a void, floating weightless for a moment, before being thrust back into the world full of colors and sounds. A harsh exhale escaped me when the soles of my feet connected with solid ground. I swayed where I stood, but Celeste steadied me by clasping my shoulders.
“Where are we?” I asked her as I waited for my head to stop spinning.
“We are not far from my cottage. In a place that has been our safe haven for the last century.” She made sure I was steady on my feet before she let go of me.
“A White Witches settlement,” I breathed, slowly looking around.
Small wooden cabins with thatched roofs and stone chimneys jutting from their sides clustered all around me.They looked different from the cold, stone buildings of New Haven, appearing whimsical and cozy. The whole atmosphere was different in this place, where the air itself seemed to be charged with magic. Its concentration made my skin hum and my fingertips tingle. The feeling wasn’t unpleasant, as warmth invaded my chest and settled in my heart. In a strange new way, I felt like I belonged here. This place felt like home, and I wondered if that was because of my witch blood. Like called to like, and it seemed the magic here recognized me as one of its own, welcoming me into its warm embrace.
Slowly, I turned around, taking it all in. The cabins sat in a circle, spreading outward, and in the middle of the settlement, a big bonfire burned, with people clamoring around it. Some were dancing while others were playing string instruments, sending twangy, bright melodies into the night. A pleasant smell of roasting meat and potatoes, and fermented honey wafted through the air. There were a lot more people here than the mere fifty who’d shown up to join the clans to fight in the war. There were men and children, too, their joyous laughter adding to the lively hum of the large group.
“They are celebrating you defeating the Dark Witches,” Celeste explained unprompted.
“There are so many of them,” I said. “Of us,” I quickly corrected myself.
I was a White Witch like them, though that part of me was more muted than the rest. I liked to think that the human part was the most dominant one, but I couldn’t deny that the vampire part had been growing stronger. I feared it might soon take over if I didn’t have Henry by my side to remind me of who I was—to remind me of the light he’d promised to keep burning inside me.
“We didn’t want to send everyone to the border when the war was upon us. We needed people to stay behind to care for our young. Our men stayed behind as well. White Witchesusually bear daughters, so we protect our men to carry on our bloodlines.”
My brows lifted at her words. There was so much I didn’t know about my people.
“How have you been able to stay hidden for all this time?”
“There are powerful magical wards veiling this place, much like the ones around my cottage.”
“They are powerful enough to hide an entire village?” I looked at her in disbelief.
Celeste’s features were aglow from the dancing flames of the bonfire. We stood a short distance away from it, but no one seemed to be paying attention to us, reveling in their celebration.
“It’s not an easy task to accomplish on such a scale,” she admitted. “We all contribute to it, constantly pouring our magic into the wards.”
“Have the White Witches ever considered coming out of hiding to settle in the Empire? You could have been hidden behind the border, out of the Dark Witches’ reach.”
“We have always feared that instead of offering their protection, the vampire clans would choose to destroy us, not wanting to risk us turning dark and joining the ranks of Xanthus’s followers. We were safer here, in the Black Forest, than inside the Empire’s guarded walls.”
My heart squeezed in my chest at her words. For a hundred years, the White Witches, much like humans, had been trapped between two supernatural evils. They hadn’t trusted the clans enough to seek refuge in the Empire. They’d chosen to dwell in these woods instead, sharing them with other supernatural creatures who were all out for blood.
“The Black Forest…has it always been this dark and unnatural place?” I asked, barely suppressing a shudder. Iremembered my encounter with a giant wolf in these woods all too well.
“No, it was a thriving and beautiful place when the White Witches first settled here centuries ago. It wasn’t known as the Black Forest back then. When the White Witches began turning dark, their black magic bled into the woods, poisoning the land and trees, morphing forest creatures into monsters.”
I found it hard to imagine these woods as anything different than this dreadful place full of twisting, slithering shadows, all primed to snuff out any sliver of light.
