“Hey!”
When I jumped up to retrieve it, she grabbed me by the bicep. “Whether you have your powers or not is irrelevant,” she said. “They’re sealed. Not gone. One of these days, they’ll have to unseal you.”
“Not likely.” A note of underlying bitterness filled my words.
“Or you could bust yourself out.” She was completely cuckoo.
“My powers were sealed by Michael himself. There’s no way I’m going to be able to bust out of anything.”
Giselle sneered. “So once again they’ve asked you to bend over so they can give your ass a nice kick, and you’re just going to bury your head in the sand and take it?”
I tried to throw her off, but she latched on and wouldn’t budge. “I drew demons through a portal without even knowing it!” I seethed.
“And?”
“Wha…” If that didn’t make an impression, I didn’t know what else to say.
“You’re Lucifer’s blood. Did they think you were going to shoot rainbows from your fingertips? Yeah, you brought demons forth. But you also compelled thousands of them and then smashed their minds to dust.”
I deflated against her grip. “And how many people died while that was happening?”
Sophie had told me during our last mirror conversation that Evan had sustained life-threatening injuries as well. So much so that he’d had to give up his spot in the games.
Giselle grabbed me by the collar. She lifted me upright so that I was looking into her icy blue eyes. “This is a war,” she said. “People die.”
“Thanks for the lesson.” I swiped at her hand.
Eugenia scratched her cheek. “You need to get out of the house, witchling.” I ground me teeth at the nickname. It reminded me at every turn that I wasn’t a witch anymore. “You’ve barely left the street since you got here.”
“What is there to leave for?” I snapped back.
Eugenia waved her hand. “Come on! The least you can do is wash the break-up stink off and show your face so the world doesn’t think you’re some sad, mopey girl who is pining away for Malachi Pendragon.”
If she thought saying his name would goad me out of my apathy, she was in for a rude awakening. Diana had already informed me that Kai had regressed into a Nephilim caveman. Everyone was giving him a wide berth. All of these rumours about him and Chanelle were unfounded. During the day, I could reason it all away.
It was at night that it became unbearable. I’d wake up soaked through with sweat, feeling like I was going to lose my mind if I didn’t see him or speak to him. It wasn’t even just that I missed him. It was like a part of me was gone. The odd thing was that I dreamed of him too often. Vivid dreams in which my frantic emotions were mirrored back at me. I couldn’t do anything but sit up and stare at the moon until dawn eased the feeling.
Nanna’s approach broke me out of my reverie. She wore gardening gloves and there was a packet of seeds sticking out of the very fashionable fanny pack around her hips. She wielded the hand trowel like a weapon.
“Everything alright?” she asked.
Giselle snapped her teeth. “It is if you’re happy to live in a bubble.”
“Maybe that’s what we want to do at the moment,” Nanna said. She passed me over some seeds. “There’s nothing wrong with taking time off to heal.”
I thought the vein in Giselle’s eye was going to burst. She turned on her heel and stalked away. “I didn’t know the Sisterhood was welcome in Ravenhall,” I asked Eugenia.
She shrugged. “We don’t make a habit of judging people by their past misdeeds,” she said.
I huffed. “You mean you’re a haven for criminals and degenerates.”
This made her chuckle. “Some of those degenerates are my best friends.”
“I’ll bet.”
She leaned over and tapped me lightly on the nose. “Heal well, witchling,” she said. “Something is coming. I know you feel it too. We could use a monster on our side.”
After she left, Nanna and I went about sowing another batch of spring seeds for the greenhouse. Neither of us spoke. In fact, she had spoken very little since we moved to this place. Ravenhall was all about freedom. Some parts of it were even hauntingly beautiful. The Great Hall was situated within a lovely dense forest. Of course, unspeakable things lurked in that forest and you couldn’t go out there without an armoury of weapons strapped to your back. On days where the wind shifted, the stench from the fens lingered in the air. I would never get used to the rotten-egg smell as long as I lived.
And then there was the black market. Nobody spoke of it but there was a general understanding that objects of ill repute could be acquired there. The Council knew about it apparently, but they either didn’t or couldn’t do a thing about it because Ravenhall was a law unto its own. Unless they did something particularly heinous, they were left to their own devices.
This was all well and good except Nanna and I were sitting ducks. Every time Nanna went anywhere, she would have to wait until Basil was free to escort her. And then he would have to set up all kinds of wards and enchantments around the house to make sure nobody came in and murdered me while he was gone. I was allowed to stay here, but I wasn’t universally loved. At the end of the day, I was Lucifer’s scion. Existing was possible, but that didn’t constitute a life.
“What’s Basil doing?” I asked Nanna.
She tamped down some soil over the tomato seeds. “He’s speaking to Odette, I think.”
“Oh.”
That was another thing that I had messed up. Odette wasn’t allowed in Ravenhall on account of being excommunicated for daring to break free and moving to Rivia. That was the problem with the Ravenhall sorceresses. They were eccentric but also
