BREAKING SHADOWS (Shadows Book 1)

Chapter 12

Sat on the embankment with my knees up to my chest and my arms looped around them, I realised what my greatest fear was. To be alone in death. Maybe it was the fear of being alone full stop, but the thought of dying alone sent me spiralling into a dark pit from which I struggled to emerge.

That was why I'd refused to go with Arden and Fawn to bring the coven. It was why no matter how much they begged and pleaded and worried about leaving me that I stayed with them, the boys whose blood spilled onto the ground as dark as some of the rotten leaves.

"I'm beginning to understand why the angel protects you."

I looked up at Callan. "I bet it's not for the reason you're thinking."

The assassin smiled. "Perhaps, but then again-"

"Look, my coven is going to be here any moment now. You should probably make yourself scarce. If my grandmother gets one whiff of you around this-" I couldn't continue.

"I understand. Be vigilant, Riley Archer."

The coven came quicker than I thought. One moment there was no-one in the clearing but death and me, and then one by one, sombre faces materialised from between the trees. Mrs Horton first, dressed as a Victorian mourner, then Toby. Dr Hastings, the coven healer followed next, running a hand down his weary face as he took in the grim sight. Others came too. How strange despair wore the same mask on different faces.

I felt an arm curl around my shoulders, the scent of lavender blossoming amongst the decay, and I leaned into it. With a groan, Gran had lowered herself to the ground beside me, drawing me to her.

"Are you going to tell me why you were here?"

"It was my idea," I said quickly. "I'd made everyone late so I thought I'd take the shortcut through the woods. I'm sorry."

Gran squeezed my shoulder, and I hoped it was an indication she believed my story. "Oh how I have fought to keep you from sights like this."

"There's no keeping me from this, I'm in too deep."

Gran went as still as the corpses of those boys. "What does that mean?"

I straightened so I could look at her, sighing as I did. "They're stealing powers and they want ours."

Gran didn't look surprised. "They told you that?"

"Didn't need to. I asked one of them what he wanted from us and he replied by producing a flame in his hand and I knew. I didn't know it was even possible."

Gran fixated on a spot somewhere in the treeline. "It can be done. It requires darker magic from our past, the sort most witches have sworn to never use again. But there are a few who desire to return to the old ways."

"When we were His army."

Gran nodded. "To remove a witch's core is to take their essence, what makes them the witch they are and there's no telling a mortal host will be strong enough to take the power. I'd say more would have perished than being successful."

A thought struck deep in my core, but it was a thought I'd share with my friends. Gran would most likely lock me up and throw away the key after this, and yet she'd never been so open with me, not about magic matters.

"Why would anyone do something like this?" I asked in a quiet voice.

I felt Gran shrug. "Who knows. I find fear brings out the worst in people, but magically speaking the boys could have been sacrificed for a ritual, or simply to send a message and I honestly cannot tell you which one seems the most likely at the moment."