Wake Up, Witch

Chapter 31

Unfortunately for us, we just survived the first part of our plan. Back in the society, we were on familiar grounds. At least we knew what we were dealing with. But now, we knew close to nothing.

Everyone looked at Katz, hope in their eyes. He should know something. He must.

"Well?" My voice echoed around the dark forest we stumbled into. Faint light shined through the thick leaves above us, but nothing more. I had been through many woods before, even stayed in them for days without company whenever I needed to be alone. It was safe to say I knew everything one should know to survive inside the maze of trees and bushes. Identifying trails of potential danger was something I developed over the years, too.

But here, in this forest, something was eerily different. There were no sounds. Nothing but utter silence. No noise from animals—or any other living thing. Even the trees. It felt like the entire forest was submerged in water. As a matter of fact, I was starting to feel the heavy air. Or the lack of it. Breathing was getting a little harder with each step.

"We have to stop," Katz said, the sound of his voice slow to travel. "This is loop magic."

"Elaborate?" I demanded.

"It rates ten in difficulty in my book," he said, looking around. "All borders were created to confuse and trap. This one in particular, was designed to either kill us or make us insane."

"In what way?"

"There's no getting out of here." He took two steps, and we all followed. "Once you get lost, you're lost forever. You'll go around in circles until you perish."

"But you know how to get out, right?" Tiff asked, fear clearly painted in her eyes. "Right?" she repeated faintly when Katz failed to reply.

Katz's jaw tightened. "There are thousands of borders. It's not possible for me to know everything. With this border, I know what it is, but not its magic design. It's like I know how a house should look like, but I won't know how or where the owner places their things. I'll know where the doors are, but not the keys or what kind of room they lead to." He sighed, staring at them in the eye one by one. "I don't have my tablet with me. It contains everything I need to know about the design."

"You do," I said. "We can access it in your sleep. We've done it before, remember? With—" I stopped before I said his name. There were people in our group who didn't know about Evensen's part in all of this. "What do we do for now?"

"We stay here until we know what we're dealing with." He looked at me, then at Tiff and Akira. "That means we both have to sleep and look into my tablet."

Alistair picked up on Katz's concern. "I'll take care of everything," he said, putting down Mertha's limp form. "Nalani and I will." He grinned at my apostles. "Right, kids?"

My eyes stayed on Mertha. She wasn't unconscious. She was just bloody too weak. "I still don't understand why you had to take her with you."

"She's better off on the other side," Alistair said with a shrug, looking down at Mertha. "One less Astral, right? And we need blood, you and I."

"Then tell me why you have to tag along. This was not part of the plan I was told about."

"By now, you should know that he doesn't tell you everything."

My jaw tightened.

Don't trust Harald. He's selfless. He'll lie to you if it means keeping you alive. He'll sacrifice even the last drop of his blood if it means you get to live.

"My purpose is to keep my sister alive," Alistair added, his face turning serious. "Nalani's life is far more important to me than anyone else's."

"Including the men you left behind?"