Page 79 of The Demon's Spell

The workers carried the casket to the grave and arranged it onto the casket-lowering device. A funeral worker said a few more words before they lowered the casket into the frigid ground.

Talia’s sobs seemed to echo off the trees as we headed back to the car following the service. Binx scratched at her, but she held him firmly to her chest so he wouldn’t jump into the grave.

We were the last to start our car, except for the workers and the priestesses. I drove through the cemetery slowly, letting the other cars go ahead, until they’d disappeared ahead of us. Instead of following the other cars, I pulled into Headmistress Verla’s driveway. Her property neighbored the cemetery and was concealed by a thick forest of trees.

“What are we doing here?” Talia asked, wiping her eyes.

I pulled around the side of the house, where we couldn’t possibly be seen from the road, and cut the engine. Nadine and I jumped out of the car.

“Come on,” I told the others. “Leave the cats here. We don’t have much time.”

The urgency in my tone made them move quicker than I thought possible.

“Time for what?” Chloe demanded.

“Shh…” Nadine hissed. “Follow us.”

We barely made it a few steps before four shadows stepped out from the dark—two men and two women. I could barely make them out in the fading light. “This way,” a woman hissed, waving us toward them. Nadine and I locked hands as we tiptoed through the forest, following behind a woman with a cane. I could feel Nadine’s rushing pulse.

“Guys,” Talia protested. “What’s going on?”

“We have to be quiet,” Nadine whispered.

“I don’t like this…” Chloe muttered, but she followed us anyway.

We reached the iron gate surrounding the cemetery, but we stayed back in the trees, where we couldn’t be seen. Everyone remained silent as we watched the funeral workers bury Monica’s casket. The priestesses, along with Claudia, watched intently, and they didn’t appear satisfied until every last granule of dirt covered Monica’s casket.

“The coven got their revenge,” Priestess Margaret said, sounding satisfied. Her voice carried over the cemetery. “We can finally put this issue to rest. Come along, ladies.”

The four women turned on their heels and climbed into a black sedan nearby. We waited silently as the funeral workers picked everything up and left the cemetery behind them. The cold wind whistled as the clang of locking gates filled the air. The sound of tires faded down the road.

“Come quickly,” the woman said. “There’s no time to waste.”

She rushed along the fence line and stopped a few yards down. She grabbed two of the fence’s iron rods and moved them aside. It looked like they’d been damaged long ago, and it gave us just enough room to crawl through. She ushered her three accomplices through the fence first, then my friends and I followed. We raced across the cemetery.

“Slow down,” Grant protested. “Are you going to tell us what’s going on?”

“They’re here to help,” I said as we came to a halt beside Monica’s grave.

“Here to help with what—?” Talia demanded, but her words stopped dead when one of the women lifted her hands. The dirt covering Monica’s casket moved at her command. Out in the open and in the light of the stars, we could finally make out the strangers’ features.

Hattie gave a slight smile as she moved aside the grave dirt using her magic. She was the half-witch who owned The Jolly Pumpkin downtown, the witch who’d told Nadine and me about the Crock of Death while we were investigating nightshade. She was part-Nivita, a race of elementals who could control the earth.

Beside her stood Headmistress Verla, William Connor, and Hector Lawson. Talia gaped as she took in each of their faces. Slowly, the casket rose from the grave, controlled by Hattie’s Earth magic.

“What are you doing!?” Grant shouted. “You’re defiling her grave!”

Grant went to take a step forward, but I placed a hand on his chest. “We have to get her out.”

“But she’s dead!” Grant cried.

Beside him, Chloe’s face was calculating. I saw the moment she figured it out. The second Hattie pulled the casket from the ground, Hector rushed forward and threw the top open. He pulled a potion vial from his coat pocket and dripped the liquid past Monica’s lips.

Nadine wore a look of regret. “I’m sorry, Grant. We had to let you believe she was dead.”

Talia’s voice shook. “But she is dead… she—”

A huge gasp cut her off, and Monica shot upright in her casket. She clutched Hector. Relief flooded my veins.

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