“That’s…brilliant, actually.” Keller nodded.
“That should help with your battle plans.” Holy grinned.
“It would. I’d rather summon a witch eager to help us, given a choice.”
“Are we going to stand around theorizing, or are we actually going to do this?” Susanna groaned. “I woke up in the late afternoon to prepare for this, and I do not appreciate being awake before sundown.”
“She’s not a daylight person, like at all,” Hattie teased. “I, myself, am usually up by sunset.”
“You’re always asleep before daybreak, though,” Edwina pointed out. “The best things always happen in those pre-dawn hours.”
“I just hope this witch doesn’t sleep on your schedule,” Holly spoke up. “This will go smoother if everyone in the silver mines is asleep, including her.”
“Only one way to find out. Stay back.” Edwina extended her hands over the coffee table. Her coven sisters followed suit.
As they began to chant, a terrible chill seeped into the house. Holly shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, but it did no good. It almost felt like the chill was spreading from the inside out.
Keller stepped over to her and wrapped her in his arms. It was enough to provide relief from the cold at first, but soon, even his teeth were chattering.
“What the hell is this?” Loch shivered, moving as far away from the witches as he could. “No one told me this spell involved frostbite.”
Holly looked at her skin. Tiny ice crystals formed on the backs of her hands.
“What’s happening?”
“It’s the magic,” Johnny explained through gritted teeth as he moved closer to her. “It’s sucking all of the energy from the room to power the spell, including the heat.”
“I would’ve worn a sweater if I had known this was going to happen.”
“Will it pull the energy from inside of us?” Keller asked.
“If Edwina and her coven sisters can’t power the spell with the energy around us, they’ll have no choice but to harvest the energy inside us,” Johnny said.
“And you didn’t think to give us a heads up?” Garret muttered from the opposite corner of the room.
“If I knew a witch trap used this strain of magic, I sure as hell would have,” he replied.
“This is why we plan.” Keller sighed.
Holly was too cold to speak. She buried her face in Keller’s neck, desperate to leech any warmth she could manage.
“I have her,” Edwina rasped.
Holly peeked at the witches from the corner of her eye. They all looked drawn and haggard, like the spell aged them fifty years.
“She’s stronger than I anticipated,” Susanna groaned. “Hattie, get it together before we lose her.”
“I’m trying!” Hattie cried.
The space above the coffee table began to glow. The harsh white light grew brighter and brighter until Holly had to look away again.
A burst of energy rippled through the room hard enough to knock everyone off their feet.
Keller turned his body to protect Holly from slamming into a wall.
The couch fell onto its back.
The fire in the fireplace blew out as if it were nothing more substantial than a candle flame.
Pictures fell from the walls.
The windows trembled as if they were about to shatter.
“Is everyone all right?” Keller asked.
“Define ‘all right,’” Loch groaned from the other side of the room where he laid flat on his back.
“If you can talk, you’re fine,” Keller replied.
“Ah. Yup, I’m good. I’m just going to lay here indefinitely.”
“Did it work?” Holly asked, trying to focus her vision. She saw double of everything.
Keller held her against him to steady her.
When her vision cleared, Edwina’s smiling face came into view.
“Congratulations. You have yourself a trapped witch.”
Holly moved closer to the coven sisters. The coffee table was nothing more than a pile of splinters. Laying on the pile, bound by chains of shining, silver light, was Elise.
“At least we got that part right.” Johnny sighed.
Elise thrashed against her restraints.
Before anyone could stop her, Holly knelt beside Elise. “Elise, can you hear me?” Holly called. “You need to open your eyes.”
When Elise did finally open her eyes, she looked pissed. “What the fuck just happened to me?”
CHAPTER TWENTY—Holly
Elise sat at the kitchen island with a blanket around her shoulders and a cup of hot tea in her hands, looking furious.
“I’m really sorry for trapping you.” Holly winced. “If you let me explain, you’ll understand why.”
Edwina, Hattie, and Susanna took their leave shortly after completing the witch trap spell. It drained them. They needed to return to their cavern to recuperate.
Holly wasn’t sad to see them go.
Johnny, Keller, and Garret were busy cleaning up the mess caused by the trap.
Holly thought that was for the best. She wanted a chance to talk to Elise alone. She didn’t want it to feel like an interrogation.
“My body was stretched and pulled in every which way,” Elise snapped. “Do you have any idea how physically challenging it is to teleport when you’re doing it consciously? Having it be done to you without your knowledge or consent is awful.”
“Again, I’m sorry but if you would just—”
“What the hell did you do that for, anyway?”
“I’m trying to explain.” Holly closed her eyes and willed away her frustration.
Elise had every right to be angry but still.
“Last night, I went to the witches for a few spells. When they crafted the first one, they somehow sensed your presence. I had an inkling it was you, and I’d meant to repay you since you helped me escape the mines.”
“This is your idea of repaying me?” Elise asked, wide-eyed.
“I didn’t realize a witch trap was this…inhumane. I thought it was the only way I could get
