Malevolence (A School for Good and Evil Fanfic)

Chapter 10

Hester took a deep breath as her heart pounded in her chest. She feared the woman beside her, but vowed not to let it show. Though the meal itself hadn't gone well, exactly, it wasn't a complete disaster. Lady Ashcroft had hardly looked at her, barely spoken to her, even as Hester's leg bounced beneath the table in anticipation of a cruel word or another hand on her arm. As she'd eaten her mashed potatoes (the closest she could get to gruel in this place), she'd looked down at her forearm, finding the shallow gouges that the woman had inflicted on her that very morning. This morning, she'd thought absentmindedly as she continued eating. It had been a long, horrible day.

She'd been surprised but also terrified when Lady Ashcroft had invited Hester to take a walk with her, and even more terrified when she suggested that they "walk the grounds." She caught Anadil's spooked look as she left the room, one of the first real emotions she'd shown toward Hester since the ballroom incident earlier that day, but she forced herself to shoot the other witch a reassuring glance. Maybe Lady Ashcroft would let something slip that could help her friends to stop the kidnappings. This could be useful, she reminded herself. But more than anything, she just couldn't imagine herself saying no to Ashcroft's direct request.

The moon shone high in the sky, still nearly spherical since it had only been a day since the last full moon. Only a day, her mind whispered once more. Only a day and her life had turned upside down. Only a day, and she'd come face to face with the woman of her nightmares.

"I never expected to see you again," Ashcroft said finally, breaking the steely silence that had settled between them. They were behind the manor, walking in a large and manicured garden that was surrounded by gates, but beyond that surrounded by shadowed woods on all sides.

"I never expected to see you again, either," said Hester truthfully. "I never wanted to."

"Don't be ridiculous." Ashcroft scoffed. "I am the only reason you are the powerful witch you are today. You're still pathetic somehow, still soft, but at least you have power. You have your life."

"High praise," Hester muttered, unable to stop herself.

"Is that any way to talk to your former teacher?" she sneered.

"Sorry, ma'am," Hester said automatically, then swore under her breath. She'd learned to be independent in the years since leaving Ashcroft. She'd learned to challenge authority, not to bow to it unless there was something in it for her. And unfortunately, Ashcroft was right. She'd given Hester her powers and taught her to be a witch. But she'd become her own witch without Ashcroft's help. She didn't need her anymore.

"We've missed you back home," Ashcroft drawled, clasping her hands.

"Really?"

"Of course. Your demon has abilities none of the others could dream of, and he took well to your soul, even going as far as to merge with it. It would be rather long and painful to exorcize him, and I don't think we'll ever be able to find a host as good as you were."

A shiver ran down Hester's spine as she realized what the woman was implying. "Are you planning to kill me?" she asked, voice strained.

"I wouldn't be against the idea," Ashcroft said with an air of indifference. "But if I was going to kill you, I wouldn't warn you beforehand. And besides, ending your life would anger the baroness's daughter, which would anger the baroness, which would therefore make her useless to me. I don't like unhappy customers."

"Then what do you want?" A bit of bite came out in Hester's tone, but she didn't care. "Why take an interest in me when it's clear I can't be controlled like the rest of your little pets?"

"I don't want to control you," she claimed, which was an obvious lie. "I only want you to return to me. There's so much you don't know about my operations, things that would fascinate you. You became a witch, did you not? Just as I had intended. You successfully combined demonology with magic to create a fighting technique that is like no other out there. And if you return home, you can be the leader of more than a couple of soft schoolgirls. You can be a leader of something that matters." She rested a sharp-nailed hand on Hester's bare arm.