Page 16 of Heart of a Witch
Chills spread along my arms, my legs, and my neck, fading the numbness that had forced me to my knees. My body filled with pain instead, a type of pain that couldn’t be helped with herbs or bandages.
He was right. Nothere. Notnow.
I stood. My shocked silence had bought me anonymity. No one was paying attention to me; they were far too engulfed in cheering at her fall.
I recognized several people in the vicinity, ones I’d seen around town. Bringing my fingers to the droplets on my cheek, I swallowed thickly. Climbing my gaze to my sister’s lifeless, blood-drenched body and angled head, hot anger enveloped my remaining emotions.
The hunter squeezed her bleeding heart between his fingers, rejoicing in holding the heart of a witch. I vowed that one day I would do the same to his.
I turned, taking in my brother’s expression, pleading for us to leave. He never turned to face our sister. I opened my mouth to speak, but he gave me a knowing look, pulling my hand.
It took every ounce of strength I had to turn away from the gallows, to pretend I was another face in a crowd. It took all the control I possessed to not launch myself at Damian Shaw.
I let his name swirl in my thoughts, burning into my mind until it was all I could think about. It kept me walking, out of the square. I glanced back, noticing the Blackwoods being brought up to the gallows next. It was only Katherine and Chester, I noticed. Richard had probably been killed first.
Once we were out of earshot, Cas spun on his heel, covering his mouth with his hand as tears glossed his fingers. “This is all my fault.”
I brought my trembling hands up, examining my crimson-stained fingerprints. I sorted through the searing rage in my mind, through the sheet of shock that desensitized everything else threatening to break me.
Alex. Cas. Mother.
They were in danger. It was all I had left to hold on to. Their names splashed through my grief and pain, forcing adrenaline through my veins. Clearing my throat, I shook my head, as if to scatter the image of Ember’s last look at me, as if she was expecting me to help her, save her.
The pain would swallow me whole if I wasn’t careful.
“We need to get home.” I croaked the words out, my voice barely a whisper. “Before they come to the house. They’ll know our family name. They’ll assume she has a family, and we’ll all end up—” I couldn’t finish the sentence. Cas cried harder. At least he’d waited until we were alone, bordering the edge of the forest, before he broke.
“Mother, Alex,” he said slowly, as if their names also woke him up. He dropped his arms to his sides, then looked me dead in the eye. “What do we do?”
I inhaled sharply, deeply, holding my breath as ten thoughts formed. I needed time to work out the best course of action, but we didn’t even have hours. Each second brought us closer to capture. They could be on their way to the house already. That hunter would come too. A part of me wanted him to, so I could slide a knife across his throat and listen to his gurgled screams like a melody until the miserable bastard took his last breath, then use the same knife to carve out his black heart.
“Tori.” The bulb in his throat moved as he watched me carefully. “The plan?”
Plan.I steadied my breathing, closing my eyes. “We need to get out of here, then decide what to do later.” I glanced at the red trees, the leaves reminding me of our childhood, of Ember. “They’ll expect us to run. He’ll hunt us. Us gone will be all the proof he needs that we’re witches too, but if we don’t, it won’t take long for evidence to show up, even if it’s not real. This necklace won’t protect me from him finding a way to kill us anyway.” I soured. That was what he’d done to her. She’d never gotten involved in the sacrifices at that club. Her biggest crime was more likely pouring the wrong drinks. “We go to the house first, get Mother and Alex, then go to the club.”
His eyes widened. “The Black Card? What? No. They’ll kill us there.”
“It’s the last place the hunter will expect us or any witch to be. You said every witch in that place has been taken to the gallows. They’ll have money there. We need dramair if we’re going to get away.”
He didn’t have time to argue as I rushed past him, every step feeling heavier as the realization of Ember being gone swept through me in waves. I didn’t let it in. I couldn’t. Not now.
Not yet.
The house came into view. Ivy had spread along the walls, entwining in and out of the cracks formed over centuries of the building being in our family. A lifetime of memories would soon be gone, because of one man.
I reached the front door and pushed it open in front of my mother. She angled her neck, peering around me, and when only Cas appeared with me, her face paled. “Did you not find Emberly?”
“I told her before I left,” Cas explained as a sob bubbled up his throat.
I licked my dry lips, forcing back a cry that was screaming to be let out. I couldn’t say the word, not without choking on it.
Cas took over. “She’s gone, Mother. The hunter found her.”
Mother dropped to the floor, inconsolable in her grief, as her howl of pain ripped through the house.
“Alex,” I said, turning toward my younger sister, who’d been dragged from her bed by our mother’s cries. “We need to leave. Pack only your essentials, only the things you cannot bear to be without. We need to be fast.”
Tears glittered her pink cheeks. “Ember… Is she?”
