Page 29 of Magic in the Woods
We wove through several twists and turns, walking in a single line. The senior witch walked quickly as we all tried to keep up while still taking in our surroundings. The dim lighting of the tunnel gradually became brighter the farther we walked, and before long, we saw the literal light at the end of the tunnel—a giant dome-shaped room buzzing with activity.
It wasn’t until I’d completely exited the tunnel that I could see the scale of the room. It was nothing like I’d imagined in my head from Luke’s penciled description. My mouth fell open as I looked up and around the space. All of this was hiding here…underground.
The dome resembled more of an arena, like the ones from my grandmother’s bedtime stories involving Roman gladiators and Commodus, the mad emperor. But this wasn’t Ancient Rome. This was the Coven—an arena run by my mother, who used the witches as her personal gladiators. The circular space was immense, with witches mingling, cackling, and staring at us. Several couches and tables with chairs made the space look like a casual social area.
Looking up, I saw two levels above us wrapping around the entire dome. Witches hung over the metal railings, gazing down at the goings-on below. They stared at us, no smiles on their faces. Spaced every few feet behind the railings were doors with numbers on them. These were the dorms. There looked to be two levels of rooms, along with the ones on the main floor.
We were below the dirt. That much was obvious from the way we’d fallen through the trapdoor onto the floor earlier. There was a pentagon-shaped window at the tip of the domed ceiling letting in some natural light, but the rest of the light came from the lanterns mounted to the walls around the space.There were no flickering flames but light bulbs. They had electricity down here, I realized with surprise.
“These are the dormitories,” the senior witch said. Her voice was monotone and rushed. She seemed bored with us already. “The classrooms are through there.” She pointed to a set of wooden double doors a quarter of the way around the circle from us. “And so is the Coven. You can go into the classrooms but not the Coven grounds.”
She turned and walked across the dome, the witches standing around moved out of her way. We followed, unsure of what we should be doing.
“This is where meals are served.” She motioned to the silver metal accordion door that was closed atop a white counter. Her boots clicked as she took a step closer to our group. We froze. She took another step toward us. “Don’t bother trying to be friends with any of us. We aren’t like you. We were born from witches. Real witches with important bloodlines. You were born from weak humans.”
I looked around at the witches standing around, all of them stopping to stare. They weren’t like us. Our skin was clear and smooth, our noses in proportion to our faces. Their features were grotesque, noses all mishappen and skin marked and bumpy.
Her voice was a ragged whisper. “Your kind never lasts long.” With a lift of her upper lip, she revealed her teeth dripping with green poison.
I retreated, backing up into Brooke. I closed my lips. Another reminder I didn’t have poison.
“Pair up!” she shouted, startling us as she switched tones.
I looked behind me at Brooke, who instantly grabbed my hand. I didn’t know what we were pairing up for, but she’d already been there for me once, pulling water from the soil to wash our hands. The eleven of us spread apart in pairs of two.A smaller witch, with short ringlets that spiraled down to her chin, stood partnerless because of the odd number of girls.
“Go with them,” the senior witch directed the spiraled hair girl, pointing to Brooke and me. Ringlets kept her eyes to the floor as she toed over to us, standing nearby. “Follow me to the dorms.”
The senior witch brought us to a set of spiral stairs that led us up to the second story of the dome. My feet hurt from walking so far in heeled boots. I wasn’t used to the confinement of this type of shoe. After the first set of stairs, she led us up another spiral staircase, which brought us up to the third story.
“Human-borns are on the third level.” She led the way, her heels clicking on each of the metal treads.
The senior witch used the toe of her black boot to kick each dorm open before pushing a pair inside, letting the door slam behind them.So much for a welcome home.After the fourth door slammed shut, she turned to the three of us before opening the door to the next dorm. She glanced around the room before ushering us in. “I guess this’ll have to do.”
The door slammed behind us, leaving us in the dark room. There were no windows. I reached out for a wall, hoping to find a light. My fingers found a knob in the wall that I pushed up, fluorescent lighting illuminated the room. Ugh. I immediately bent over, covering my eyes.
The squeak of metal on metal made me open my eyes. Ringlets had climbed to the top bunk of the only set of bunk beds in the room. Save for a wardrobe pushed into the corner of the room and an open door with a small shower, toilet, and pedestal sink, it was the only sleeping space in the room. She sat on the bed, laying her claim, gazing down at Brooke and me, as if daring us to challenge her.
“Are you okay sharing a bed?” Brooke asked. It looked like Ididn’t have a choice. Suddenly, I missed the bed at Annabel’s house and the privacy the room had provided me.
I took a breath before exhaling out my nose. This was temporary, part of the plan. The sooner I figured out the Academy and took my place as Prime, the sooner I’d be in much more comfortable accommodations.
“I mean, I can sleep on the floor…” Brooke looked at the dirt floor we were standing on and cringed.
“No, I’m fine sharing a bed,” I said. “I’ve shared one with my grandmother my whole life.”
Her shoulders dropped in what looked like relief.
“Thanks for helping me back there—that thing with the water,” I said.
“It’s no problem. I can pull water from the soil with my earth magic. It was nothing.” Brooke looked around the windowless room. It was damp and smelled like the cottage before we aired it out each spring. “We’ve got to help each other out, right?” She made her way to the bottom bunk, sitting on the thin mattress. “We’re all each other’s got now.”
I looked down at my feet. It was true—I didn’t have anyone here at the Academy. “Yeah,” I whispered.
“Did you see the way they look—their faces?” Brooke asked.
They looked like my mother had, their faces disfigured, and their skin broken. I nodded as Brooke shivered, closing her eyes and shaking her head.
Do all witches look like that?I wondered.
