Shit.
More witches filled the dining room, and the spectral staff set to work offering hot chocolate and brownies—comfort foods for these witches who’d failed the test.
“Shit,” Justine said, her gaze on the door as another group of witches trooped in. “This is bad.”
How many more witches were there to be tested? “What happens if no one can do the spell?”
Both women looked up at me with grim expressions. “Then we’re fucked.”
I passed a small group of witches headed back to the mansion on my way to the atrium. One was sobbing while the others consoled her. They barely looked up at me as they skirted me on the path.
More witches who had failed the test.
The atrium doors were ajar when I got there, and the sound of agitated voices drifted out to greet me.
“That’s the lot of them, then,” Jessie said.
“We’ll retest in a week or so once we’ve upped the training for the more promising candidates,” Anna replied.
“What promising candidates?” Jessie scoffed. “You can either channel the negation chant or you can’t. It’s not a learned skill. You either have it or you don’t, and none of them do.”
“We’re so fucked.”
I recognized this voice as Poppy’s.
“There’ve always been witches to take over.” Anna sounded perplexed. “Always. I don’t understand…We must have missed someone.”
I pushed open the door and entered. Sunlight lanced through the glass panes above, lighting up the space with pleasant warmth.
All eyes turned to me, but my attention zeroed in on Sloane. She sat perched on the rim of a fountain, one boot planted on the ledge, arm braced on her cocked knee.
Her chin was tucked in, flexing as if she was holding back a tide of words.
I walked further into the building. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Jessie snorted and turned away, but Poppy smiled kindly. She looked tired, her bubble-gum hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, her skin so pale it was almost translucent.
“Hey, Cora,” she said. “We weren’t expecting to see you.”
“It’s fine,” Anna said. “We’ll be fine.” But it sounded more like a prayer than a fact.
“How?” Sloane said softly. “How can we be fine with only three Elites?” She finally looked up and her electric-blue eyes focused on me. “Jessie’s right. We’re fucked. Pretty certain news of Brie’s death has made its way to the outlier community, to the fucking Order, which means revenants are gonna come out to play in force and there’ll be nothing we can do to stop them.”
“There’s always been a replacement,” Anna said again. “Hecate has always taken care of us…” She frowned.
Jessie’s head came up slowly to lock gazes with me. “You… We haven’t tested you.”
“Me?” Was she serious?
“The anchor can’t be an Elite,” Poppy said.
“Why not?” Jessie retorted. “She’s a witch.”
“The anchor has never been tested,” Anna said. “Elite status is too dangerous, and we’ve never had to put our anchor in that position. The Elites have always been found in our general population of Grimswood witches—”
“But that doesn’t mean an anchor can’t be an Elite…” Sloane swung her leg down and stood. “You’re right, Anna, there’s always been a replacement, and if we’ve tested everyone else then there’s only the anchor left.” She approached me and stopped a foot away, looking down her nose at me, reminding me how petite I was. “You up for the challenge, cupcake?”
Not like I had much choice. “Sure.”
“We can’t put her in danger like that,” Anna said.
“We don’t have a fucking choice,” Sloane said. “Besides, didn’t you just say that Hecate has always taken care of this shit? So if she can do the negation spell when no one else can, then it’s Hecate’s will.”
Anna pressed her lips together and nodded. “Do it.”
Sloane’s lips curved in a cool smile. “Time to see what you’ve got, cupcake. But I got to warn you, this might hurt.”
I arched a brow. “I’m not afraid of a little pain, Sloane.”
“Who said it would be a little?”
“Oh for fucksake,” Jessie snapped. “Can we get on with it?”
“It’ll be fine,” Poppy said, shooting Sloane a glare. “You’ll be fine. The pain varies for each witch. Some feel nothing, and others a little more.”
“But if you have what we need, you’ll be in agony,” Jessie said.
Oh whoop-de-do. “What do I have to do?”
It was Anna who explained. “The Elites will stand around you and cast The Call. It’s a chant that penetrates your psyche and calls to the deep recesses of your subconscious, the part able to cast a spell such as a negation spell. This part of your subconscious will attempt to protect itself. It will make you want to flee, but you’ll be held in place by The Elites.”
“It feels as if someone’s tearing at your limbs, at your brain,” Jessie said with a little too much glee.
“Shut up, Jess,” Poppy snapped. Then to me, “It hurts, yes, but the key is not to fight. To let us in, to open to us. If you have the gene to carry the negation spell, then this will activate it.”
“Okay, then I have to learn the spell?”
“No and yes,” Sloane said. “The reason only a handful of witches can carry the negation spell is because only a handful carry the gene to memorize and verbalize the spell. If you have what it takes, then all I’ll have to do is whisper the chant to you and that deep part of you, the part locked away now, will claim it, and like a limb or a heartbeat, it’ll become a part of you.”
Sounded creepy and ominous, but heck, if this was the only way to keep humans safe, then so be it.
“Fine, let’s do this.”
Bring on the pain.
Chapter Six
When they’d said pain, I’d thought they’d meant the regular pain, you
