Page 70 of Filthy Little Witch
Wes walked around the sanctuary, his footsteps echoing off the tall ceilings like war hammers. “How long do you think it can hold out?”
Marta brushed the tears off her cheeks and kissed me one last time before standing. “Certainly longer than we can. We’ll have to raid the kitchens and pray something was left here the day we created the liminal.”
“And the ritual?” Wes asked. “Día de Muertos?”
Marta took a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t know, Wes. We don’t have the book or my tools or?—”
“We have to keep going,” I muttered, trying to push myself up to a seated position. “We didn’t come this far only to get this far.”
“I don’t have the ritual memorized,” she said. “Without it, I could?—”
“Witches have been coming up with rituals on their own for centuries.” My head twinged and my muscles protested the movement, but I still got myself upright enough to lean against the side of the closest pew. “You’ll think of something.”
She snorted. “You put too much faith in me.”
“Well, better late than never,” I said, trying to wink. Unfortunately, I was sure I did it with both eyes, not just one.
“We’ll stay here,” Wes said with a firm nod. “Maybe we can wait him out. If not, we’ll do the ritual tomorrow at midnight.”
Marta’s features dropped, and her quiet unease slithered into my chest. She didn’t think she could do it. She didn’t think she had the magical capability to come up with it on her own. Truth be said, Constance wasn’t much to put faith in to begin with. Why should we care what some ancient old bitch from the 1500s had to say? We had five hundred years of knowledge and experience over her, and Marta was the most powerful witch I’d ever met. If someone was going to get us out of this, if someone could figure it out, it was her.
Either that, or we’d die here. We’d get eaten by that fucking demon or worse, and at this point, I just wanted it to be over. One way or the other.
“Hopefully, we can cross over without him following us. If he does…” Marta trailed off and ran her hands back through her hair.
“If he does, we’ll have the full coven on the other side,” I added, clutching at my ribs. I was pretty sure one of them was broken. That fucker had dropped me hard.
“I’ll go check for food,” Wes said with a nod toward me. “Will you do your thing?”
“Right,” Marta said, tapping my boot with her shoe. “Let me see that.”
She kneeled by my side and tugged my hand away, probing the area with her pointy fingers. It felt like she’d stuck a lance straight through me. I arched off the ground, and she gasped, clearly sensing the sensation in her own body.
“Fuck!” I shouted.
“Don’t be such a baby,” she said. “It’s not that bad. Let me just…” She held her hand up and chanted under her breath, that glowing light pooling in her palms before radiating over me. I sighed as it dissolved into my skin, replacing the tenderness with warmth and comfort and…snap! The bone bounced back into place, and I grit my teeth at the sharp agony that ricocheted down my spine and the back of my legs.
“Aww, shit.” It was still tender, but when she pulled her hand away, I could finally take a deep breath.
“Now the one on your head.” She grabbed my crown and pulled my head down to assess the damage. “Yikes.”
“Is it bad?” It felt like my skull had been split in two.
“Look at that! You’re as hard-headed as I thought,” she said with a snicker.
“Hah-hah.” I rolled my eyes. “Very funny.”
“You’ll survive,” she said before placing her hand over the wound and chanting in that same hypnotic rhythm. That, too, stitched itself back together, and suddenly, the roaring pain dulled to a minor throb. “There. Let me see the ones on your ankles.”
“No,” I said, grabbing her hands to stop her. “You’ve done enough. Don’t exert any more magic. You’ll need it to get us out of here.”
She glanced at me with her shimmering eyes, so intelligent and mesmerizing. It was difficult to remember a time when I didn’t like her, couldn’t stand to be around her. Ages had passed since then, even if it was only technically two months. It felt like centuries. We had lived entire lifetimes here in the liminal together.
“Sit with me,” I said. “Talk to me.”
The glass windows tinkled as the demon pressed in on them, trying to get through, trying to break through the impenetrable force of this holy ground. I ignored it because if I focused too much on it, I’d remember the way it felt with that demon’s tentacles wrapped around my legs, and I’d start panicking again.
“About what?” She sat next to me and spread her legs out parallel to mine.
