Page 45 of The Warlock's Trial

The red battle orb hit Grammy in the chest, blasting her off her feet. The power of the spell was so intense that it tore a wound through her skin. Blood sprayed across the forest, splattering against my face and over the front of my dress. Grammy’s body hit the ground hard several feet away from where she’d been standing.

I stumbled to the side and caught myself on a tree. The sounds of magic whizzing through the forest grew distant. I waited for Grammy to stand. She was fine… she just had to get up.

Out of the corner of my eye, I was vaguely aware of the rage marring Verla’s features. The sound of her furious scream cut through my bleary daze. Verla raised her hands, and over a dozen streams of battle magic shot from her fingertips all at once. The spell was so powerful that it tore straight through the Executors’ shield and burned through their chests all at once. Screams echoed across the mountain range, along with screeches from the Executors’ cats. Abrupt silence followed immediately as the Executors’ bodies dropped to the ground in unison.

The light faded, until blackness consumed the forest once again. All I could hear was the sound of Verla’s ragged breathing.

I stumbled forward and dropped to my knees beside Grammy’s unmoving body. Blood soaked down the front of her dress, but the wound wasn’t as deep as I thought it’d be. I pushed her white hair out of her face, but her eyes remained closed.

My voice became a broken whisper as I said, “Grammy, wake up. The Executors are gone now.”

I turned my gaze up to Verla, who stood several feet away. I thought she appeared to be in shock, but it was hard to see much of anything behind the tears forming in my eyes. “Help her,” I pleaded.

“Nadine…” she started softly, but anything she was going to say in that tone of voice wasn’t something I wanted to hear. Verla knelt beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. It was supposed to be comforting, but it was anything but. I shoved her off of me. Verla had already given up, but I wouldn’t.

“YOU NEED TO HELP HER!” I screamed. “Why aren’t you doing anything!?”

I shook my grandmother and tried to call out her name, but my throat had completely closed up. All that came out was a heart-wrenching whimper. I waited for Grammy to open her eyes… but she never did.

A twig snapped behind me. I whirled around, a spell crackling in my palm. Lucas stared back at me with wide eyes. The heartbreak in his features told me everything I needed to know.

He’d heard someone’s last thought. And I knew exactly who had spoken it.

I dropped the spell. “Lucas…”

He knelt beside me and took me in his arms. I couldn’t muster the energy to push him away. He stroked his hand over the top of my head, and his voice cracked as he whispered, “I know.”

I couldn’t bear to hear those two simple words, because it confirmed everything I didn’t want to believe. He’d heard her last thought, and that meant she was already gone. Sobs racked my body, and tears streamed down my cheeks to soak into his tux. Inside of me, something snapped, and I could swear the sound of my breaking heart filled the forest.

Footsteps approached us from both sides, and Talia’s choked sob came through the darkness. “Nadine, I’m so sorry.”

Arms encompassed me from all angles as my friends wrapped me in a group hug. Nobody said anything else, because they all knew there were no words that could mend my heart in the wake of the devastation.

Grammy was dead… The last of my family was gone.

I didn’t know how long I sobbed. Eventually, I pulled away from Lucas and turned back toward Grammy. Someone must’ve lit a witch light above me, because I could see Grammy’s lifeless features clear as day. I ran my fingers over the side of her face. She was still warm, but no breath escaped her lips. Hushed voices reached me, but I couldn’t be entirely sure of what they were saying.

“Nadine needs to see her one last time,” Onyx said.

“I can’t help,” Miles replied. “Her spirit isn’t here.”

“She already moved on,” Lucas cut in, his voice rough. “I can feel it. Her reaper’s already been here.”

His words seemed to echo in my mind. Her reaper’s already been here.

Grammy wasn’t just gone in the flesh; her spirit was gone, too. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.

I curled over my grandmother’s lifeless form, sobbing for what could’ve been hours until I couldn’t cry anymore. I couldn’t be sure how much time passed, but it felt like decades all crammed into one single moment.

Eventually, Verla cleared her throat, though her voice came out sounding broken. “Lucas, take Nadine back to the house. Jonathan and I will remove all traces of what happened here—magical or otherwise.”

Nobody moved for a beat, until Professor Warren added, “If we don’t act soon, the priestesses will be able to track the Executors to our location. We must cast our spells now.”

Gentle hands helped me to stand. My feet moved under me as Lucas supported my weight, but my spirit seemed to exist somewhere outside my body, like I was watching the scene from above.

Somehow, we made it back to the house, though I didn’t remember walking that far. Lucas helped me sit on the couch, and someone draped a blanket around my shoulders. My friends spoke in broken whispers, but all I could do was stare into the crackling fireplace that seemed nothing more than a blur. I couldn’t process any of their words.

It had all happened so fast. One moment, I was living in euphoric bliss… and the next, my entire world had been shattered to pieces.

---